Revision as of 13:58, 11 September 2013

Contents

What is Optimization?

"Optimization" is our way of referring to the minimal editing we do to our initial digital captures in order to deliver them online. Since we are delivering a faithful representation of the archival materials we capture, we do not seek to enhance images (for example, getting a blurry photograph in focus or brightening a dark piece of paper), only to enhance the quality of our capture.

Our goal is to

apply proper white balance

ensure even exposure and contrast

align for presentation and readability

crop evenly, leaving a small border of background around the object

Using Adobe Bridge

Procedure

Open files in Camera Raw

Browse to the correct folder in Adobe Bridge

Select the file(s) you want to edit

Right-click and choose Open in Camera Raw...

Edit files

See Tools and Special Tips below

Export files

Select the files you want to save from the thumbnail bar on the left

Use the Select All button at the top left to choose all the files

Use the Shift key to choose a range of files

Use the Ctrl key to choose random files

Click the Save Image... button

On the menu that pops up

choose the destination folder (choose Save in New Location, and browse to the C:\tiff_scans folder or the appropriate folder on the S: drive)

set the filename (choose document name if you want to retain the name already on the file)

select type of file to .tif (unless you're exporting files for some other purpose)

Click the Save button

Exit Camera Raw

To exit at any time without saving changes, choose Cancel

To exit with changes saved, choose Done -- this DOES NOT EXPORT the files, just retains the changes you've made to the raw file

Basic Tools

Special Tips

Selecting more than one file from the thumbnail bar allows you to edit multiple files at once, whether it's all the files (especially useful for white balance) or just some (for example, you want to crop all the files from one item or all the files with the same size object).

If you haven't selected multiple files but want to apply edits from one files to others